A wide variety of water-in-oil spreads having a fat content of below 80 wt. % have been used as replacements for butter or margarine. These fat continuous spreads should have a plastified continuous fat phase to give them suitable spreadability and to prevent microbiological deterioration. Moreover, the spreads should not release moisture when spread on a food item and should be spreadable at refrigerator temperature, be stable at room temperature yet destabilize and release their flavor in the mouth. These goals are difficult to achieve particularly when only a relatively small amount of fat is to be used to constitute the continuous phase.
Fat continuous products wherein the aqueous phase contains a gelling agent and is gel forming are described in U.S. Pat No. 4,917,915 (Cain et al). The gelling agents are selected from a gelling hydrolyzed starch derivative, gelatin, carrageenan and mixtures thereof. The hydrolyzed starch is generally defined as a gelling maltodextrin. Non-gelling starches are also described as present in the aqueous phase as bulking agents or viscosity enhancers.
Bodor et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,037) describes fat continuous products which also contain gelling agents, such as gelatin and Danish agar, in the aqueous phase. Bodor teaches that the type of gelling agent used in low fat continuous spread is critical since most gelling agents that can assist in the stabilization of the emulsions have too high a melting point and give a gluey unpleasant impression when chewed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,554 (Larsson et al.) describes a low fat spread having an emulsion such that the final product can be pasteurized. Storage stability of the product is obtained by combining starch with a small amount of an emulsifier which is capable of preventing gel formation by forming a starch/emulsifier complex.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,729 (Larsson) discloses a method for producing a low fat spread whereby starches selected are acid hydrolyzed, and if necessary further stabilized from gelling by further reactions of starch with reagents capable of adding functional groups to the starch molecule. The stabilization imparted by these functional groups makes it possible to obtain such stabilization that the starch does not gel after solubilization. Thus the need for the use of emulsifiers as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,554 is strongly reduced. Starches described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,729 exhibit a heavy viscosity peak upon gelatinization after which the solution becomes thinner. Upon cooling, the starch in the solution does not gel and, in fact, the viscosity remains at a low level.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,408 (issued Aug. 20, 1985 to Moorehouse et at.) discloses low fat spreads comprising a blend of an edible fat and a non-gelled starch hydrolyzate having a D.E. of about 4 and not more than 25.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,844 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,560 ( Wesdorp) disclose edible plastic dispersions not having a continuous fat phase and having at least one continuous water phase. A gelling starch is used in the spread which has a rheological property in aqueous dispersion characterized by a one-half G'.sub.max value at no more than about 9,600 seconds when prepared at a concentration to yield a logG'.sub.max value of 5.0 at 11.degree. C., 15,000 seconds after the gelling starch is completely dispersed in the aqueous dispersion. The G' values reflect the rate and extent of structure formation. Critical strain values were not a performance criteria for the described starches.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,867 (Plaft et al.) discloses a low fat spread, having continuous fat phase and a dispersed aqueous phase comprising proteins derived from milk and from 0.1 to 1.2% by weight of a modified starch. Examples of described starches include white or yellow dextrins and roasted or dextrinized starch. These starches fall within the class of materials known as "starch hydrolysis products" which are typically low in viscosity and have a measurable D.E. value. Additional starch products cited as useful include acetylated distarch adipate, acetylated distarch phosphates and hydroxypropl distarch phosphates. These latter three classes of starch derivatives are known in the industry as viscosifying starches and are typically non-gelling. The proteins and starch present in the aqueous phase increase in the viscosity of the aqueous phase which in turn is believed to be responsible for an increase in stability of these water-in-oil emulsion products.
It has now been discovered that a gelling starch based on amylose and having specific Theological properties may be used to formulate fat continuous spread which exhibits good spreadability, good stability without watering out and yet releases its flavor in the mouth for good organoleptic properties.